{"id":10229,"date":"2026-04-19T05:46:42","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T05:46:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/19\/iran-us-war-live-strait-of-hormuz-closed-again-as-trump-holds-crisis-talks-the-independent\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T05:46:42","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T05:46:42","slug":"iran-us-war-live-strait-of-hormuz-closed-again-as-trump-holds-crisis-talks-the-independent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/19\/iran-us-war-live-strait-of-hormuz-closed-again-as-trump-holds-crisis-talks-the-independent\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran-US war live: Strait of Hormuz \u2018closed again\u2019 as Trump holds crisis talks – The Independent"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Iran had warned the Strait will not remain open if the US blockade continued and has now moved to restrict it
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Iran said no date had been set for the next round of peace talks even as it declared the Strait of Hormuz closed again on Saturday,<\/a> forcing the US into crisis mode as two ships reported coming under fire in the channel.
Two Indian-flagged tankers reported gunfire<\/a> after Tehran said it was shutting the Strait, citing the continued US blockade of Iranian ports.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said a framework of understanding must \u200cbe agreed first.
Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards said the vital waterway would remain closed until the US military lifts its blockade on Iranian vessels in a statement aired on state TV.
Earlier, president Donald Trump had said there could be talks this weekend and that the two sides were “very close \u200bto making a deal\u201d.
However, there were no signs on Saturday of preparations for new talks in the Pakistani capital where the \u200chighest-level US-Iran negotiations since the 1979 Islamic Revolution ended without agreement last \u2060weekend.
When American and Iranian negotiators met last weekend in Islamabad, the US proposed a 20-year suspension of all Iranian nuclear activity, while Iran suggested a halt of three to five years, according to people familiar with the proposals.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Saeed Khatibzadeh, said no date had been set for the next round of negotiations, adding that a framework of understanding must \u200cbe agreed first.
US president Donald Trump had said on Friday there could be talks this weekend and that the two sides were “very close \u200bto making a deal\u201d.
There were no signs on Saturday of preparations for new talks in the Pakistani capital, where the \u200chighest-level US-Iran negotiations since the 1979 Islamic Revolution ended without agreement last \u2060weekend.
Senior national security aides gathered at the White House on Saturday morning. Mr Trump later went to the Trump National Golf Club with \u2060top envoy Steve Witkoff, one of his Iran negotiators.
Pressure for a way out of the war has mounted as Trump\u2019s fellow Republicans defend narrow majorities in Congress in the November \u200cmidterm elections with US gasoline prices high, inflation \u200brising and his own approval ratings down.
Oil prices fell about 10 per cent and \u200cglobal stocks jumped on Friday on the prospect of marine traffic \u200bresuming through the strait. But hundreds of vessels and about 20,000 seafarers remain stranded in the Gulf awaiting passage through the waterway, shipping sources said.
Concern in the Strait of Hormuz remained after at least two vessels reported being attacked yesterday while trying to transit the waterway.
India summoned the Iranian ambassador in New Delhi and \u2060expressed deep concern that two Indian-flagged ships had come under fire in the strait, the government said.
US Central Command said American forces were enforcing a maritime blockade of Iran but did not comment on the latest Iranian actions.
Tehran’s reversal raised the risk that oil and gas shipments through the strait could remain disrupted just as Trump weighs whether to extend the ceasefire.
The Israeli \u2060military said this morning that \u200bone \u2060soldier \u2060was \u200bkilled \u2060during \u200ccombat in southern \u200cLebanon, adding \u200cthat \u2060nine soldiers were wounded, including one \u200cwho \u200bwas severely \u200cinjured.
Iran reversed course on Saturday to reassert control over the strait, again closing the energy choke point and adding fresh uncertainty to the war, which \u2060the US and Israel launched on 28 February.
Iran said it was responding to a continued US blockade of Iranian ports, calling it \u200ba violation of \u2060the ceasefire, while supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said \u200cIran’s navy was ready to inflict “new bitter defeats” on its enemies.
US president Donald Trump called the move “blackmail” even as he praised “very good conversations” with Tehran.
On Friday, Iran had announced the temporary reopening of the Strait of Hormuz following a separate US-brokered 10-day ceasefire agreement on Thursday between Israel and Lebanon.
Mr Trump defended the \u200cUS blockade and threatened “to start dropping bombs again” unless the countries reached a long-term deal \u200cbefore the ceasefire expires on Wednesday.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said Tehran’s control over the strait included demanding the payment of costs related to security, safety and environmental protection services, state media said.
Iran’s top negotiator said recent talks with the US had made progress but gaps remained over nuclear issues and the Strait of Hormuz, while president Donald Trump cited “very good conversations” with Tehran despite warning against “blackmail” over the key shipping channel.
Neither side offered any specifics about the state of negotiations yesterday, days before a \u2060fragile ceasefire in the US-Israeli war against Iran is set to expire.
“We have had progress but there is still a big distance between us,” Iran’s chief negotiator, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, told state media, referring to talks last \u2060weekend. “There are some issues on which we insist … They also have red lines. But these \u200bissues \u2060could be just one or two.”
The war, now in its eighth week, has killed thousands, spread to Israeli attacks in Lebanon and sent oil prices surging because of the de facto closure of the strait, which before the war carried one-fifth of the world’s oil shipments.
Donald Trump was adamant that Iran would not \u201cblackmail\u201d the United States as Tehran said it was reimposing its grip on the Strait of Hormuz.
Two tankers reported coming under fire in the channel on Saturday, as Iran declared it was closing the strait again due to the continued American presence in the area.
Trump played down the threat, saying Iran had \u201cgot a little cute\u201d, after Iran\u2019s supreme leader said his navy was ready to make the US \u201ctaste the bitterness of new defeats\u201d.
“They wanted to close up the strait again, as they’ve been doing for years. They can’t blackmail us,\u201d Trump said.
The US blockade on Iranian ports remains a point of major contention, with just days left before the two-week ceasefire agreement expires on Tuesday.
Trump insisted that \u201cvery good conversations\u201d were ongoing, while Iran\u2019s national security council said it was considering new proposals from the US, following mediation efforts by Pakistan in recent days.
Tankers in the Gulf came under fire on Saturday as Iran reimposed its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, just hours after declaring the vital waterway had reopened to commercial traffic.
At least two vessels reported being struck by gunfire as they tried to cross the strait, after Tehran said it would be shutting the strategic chokepoint in response to the continued US blockade on Iranian ports.
Hopes for diplomacy were dashed as Iran\u2019s new supreme leader Mojataba Khamenei said the nation\u2019s navy was ready to inflict \u201cnew bitter defeats\u201d on its enemies, with the US-Iranian ceasefire set to expire within days.
Read the full story of Saturday\u2019s events here:
Iran is not yet ready to hold a new round of direct talks with the US, a senior Iranian official said on Saturday, citing Washington’s refusal to abandon “maximalist” demands on key issues.
Iranian deputy foreign minister Saeed Khatibzadeh told the Associated Press his country will not hand over its enriched uranium to the United States, against claims made by Donald Trump.
“I can tell you that no enriched material is going to be shipped to United States,” Khatibzadeh said. “This is a non-starter and I can assure you that while we are ready to address any concerns that we do have, we’re not going to accept things that are nonstarters.”
Khatibzadeh said there have been many exchanges of messages between the sides but accused the United States of holding firm on demands Iran deems to be excessive.
“We are still not there yet to move on to an actual meeting because there are issues that the Americans have not yet abandoned their maximalist position.\u201d
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